Our Personal Health - Who is Really In Charge

We're living in a time when we seem to be fighting about the rights we are accorded by our Constitution. Some argue that our Founding Fathers knew all they needed to in order to create a constitution which would forcefully and clearly demonstrate that we had thrown off the mantle of Colonial rule and that our citizens would be free and equal. OK, maybe free. OK, maybe mostly free.

Two hundred forty one years later, it appears that we're using the amendments as weapons of war - against each other, more than we use them to actually secure the rights and freedoms I believe our Founding Fathers intended. There are the arguments about the First Amendment that is supposed to guarantee our freedom to speak...about any topic we choose, other than outright treason, and even then, to just talk about it, might be protected too!

Then there is the constant bickering over the Second Amendment - the right to bear arms. Some argue that we have the right to bear any arms we want, because the Constitution did not outlaw any weapons. Still others want to forbid anyone except for the police and military to have arms. And we are no closer to working on a solution that we are for a manned expedition to Saturn's sixth moon, Enceladus.

Now I come to the crux of the matter - who is in charge of our health? Since we all agree that we use the possessive pronoun, "our," the answer should be perfectly clear, each person is in charge of their own health! But ask yourself, "Is that really true?" Let's say you are an accountant. Would your employer have any need to assure that you are in peak physical condition? Other than wanting you healthy so that you may do your work, we would probably agree, "No."

What if you are a teacher in a middle or junior high school, teaching math? Would you agree that what applied for the accountant, applies here? What about an attorney? A mayor? A refuse collector? A computer programmer...and so on?

But what about a firefighter, a LEO and/or an EMT/Paramedic? Forget what you feel; would you still claim that you are in charge of your personal health? If you, then I believe you are in the wrong profession. Because these three professions need you to be at your very best physical condition to perform your assigned tasks. And there is the very real risk of a domino effect if you aren't!

In any of these three professions, besides all else, you have taken an oath to protect the lives of others. We all know the saying, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link." So what happens in the middle of an emergency situation in which not only a citizen's life is depending on you, but your partner and/or colleagues are depending on you, and you give out? Now the dominoes begin to fall.

The victim is in more trouble, your colleagues have to stop what they were doing to cover for you. And now, either instead of or besides the initial victim, your colleagues have to start taking care of you. You mumble beneath the oxygen mask, "Oh, I'm OK, I'm just a little tired" as you try to sit up, but find you have less strength than a piece on linguine. You're not OK. 

Now, one team is rushing you to the nearest ER. To hell with the scene of the emergency, they are focused on you, taking your vitals, administering medications, driving quickly, but carefully to the hospital. You realize for the first time that the siren you hear is not getting you to the emergency, you're the emergency it is screaming for.

When the initial emergency is over, instead of going back to patrol, the firehouse or the rescue base, most of your coworkers make their way to the hospital. They are going there, because of you. They are waiting for news about you. And as they wait, slowly at first, then more quickly as the info gets passed around, they realize that  your emergency was not due to an accident, fall, burn, collision at the location, it was because  you were ill! As they realize this, they pause for a moment and look inwardly at themselves. 
"Geez, could that happen to me?"
"Wow! We're about the same size - we switch clothes all the time. Am I like that, too?"
"Damn, I can't remember the last time I really looked at myself in the mirror!"
"I've been meaning to stop smoking, really I have!"

And then silence. Everyone stands a bit taller, but looking down. No one knows how to look directly at your spouse as he/she quickly walks up to the sliding doors of the ER, carrying one child in his/her arms and hold the hand, almost dragging a second one. The doors close. All is quiet.

And then, the scream.

The rules and regulations of your job will tell you what your physical requirements are. And when you signed up, you met most, if not all of them. But today is now - not then! You don't meet those  requirements any more. You've stopped trying. Or you say, "I'll start doing some exercises next week!" Yet, strictly interpreted, you do not meet the departments qualifications any longer.

Could you be threatened with being docked a couple of days? Sure, but what difference will that make. You'll stay home, do a few chores, then do exactly what you've been doing for ages, that got you written up in the first place!

YOU...AND ONLY YOU CAN BE IN CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH! IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A CHANGE TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH, THE DEPARTMENT ISN'T GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU, YOUR DOCTOR ISN'T GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU,  YOU have to be in charge of your health. End of story.

#FFHI2015 - FireFighter Health Initiative of 2015

I'm sick and I'm sick and tired of being sick. No really, I am actually sick with a bad URI, that's on the verse of bronchitis. But I'm sicker even than that. Though I'm on the mend, I awoke this morning to find two #LODD notices in my mailbox, both for basically "middle-aged" men and both due to preventable health issues. And those two obits come on the heal of a third, that occurred over the weekend, when another brave FF passed, after nearly a week in the hospital following his collapse on the scene of a run. Again, due to preventable health issues. Well, we're tired of reading those #LODD notices and their subsequent obituaries; about the families left behind and hundreds, if not thousands who show up at their funerals. 

Listen, we all know and understand that this is a big, dangerous "game" that we play. It's always the same, us (Humans) versus him (The Red Devil). And because we play this game, we know the Red doesn't always play by the rules, so it is up to us to do so. And we do, day after day, we do. However, we have a good idea as to how this game is played, and thank Heaven above, the winning percentage has gained year after year in recent time. That's right. Fewer of us have lost the game and therefore, fireground fatalities are being reduced most years. Although a great many of us were reluctant to accept all the
"modern" safety codes and requirements issued by the #NFPA, more and more do and thus the lessening of the losses.

But if you ask me, we're missing the boat. We are so gung-ho to get on our apparatus when those tones sound off in the station or on our pagers, that we have lost sight of the most important factor: What happens if we don't take care of ourselves well enough to allow us to even stay on the job? It appears that we're nearly at 60% of the #LODD for 2015 have been health related. And sadly, our own colleagues are the ones to respond to those terrifying calls, at our home, at the firehouse, on the fireground, etc. It's too much....IT'S TOO GODDAM MUCH!! AND WE HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE!!

With that, we creating a hashtag, #FFHI2015 - The FireFighter Health Initiative 2015. THIS IS WHERE WE WILL DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND!! 

We're asking you...no, we're begging you to join us today. Make this hashtag #FFHI2015 part of your life. If you are a Chief officer reading this, this applies double for you. Why? Because this both applies to you as a firefighter and applies to you as a leader of your department to see to it that the #FFHI2015 is implemented in your department. If your a line officer, you're in the same boat as are the chiefs, you have to be willing to participate yourself and motivate your front-line members to do the same. And if you're an engineer, truckee, nozzle-jockey, or whatever, you owe both to your family and the community that you protect, to protect yourself.

No matter what your role is in firefighting, do you not owe it to your family, your friends, your co-workers to do the best job that you can? Ask yourself this: Is there anything you wouldn't do to? Would you walk into a fully involved buiding without full PPE? If you don't start taking care of yourself and soon, you might just as well! 

Are you afraid? Are you afraid that if you have to undergo a physical, it may disqualify you from active duty? Well, is that it? Tough to think about, isn't it. How would you care for your family, the house, etc.? That is a tough question. But here's one that even tougher...if you don't start taking care of yourself now, who will when you're dead and buried?

Look around you. See all your friends from work. See all your family. Do you think they'll think you any less of a person because you decided it's time to lose a few pounds and work out a bit?

OK, I've been able to vent this horrid feeling in me since this morning. But I will tell you this, we at Dalmatian Productions, Inc. believe in this issue so strongly that it will be worked into the long-term story line of our new TV show, "Cause & Origin(c)"

Now #StaySafe and Let's Make Sure #EveryOneGoesHome

Steve, Rich, Tom & Jesse